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Charles Leclerc has heaped praise on Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli after the Italian won five of the opening seven races to lead the championship. Speaking to international media, the Ferrari driver admitted he has long rated Antonelli but was still surprised by the scale of his second-season step, echoing the admiration Max Verstappen has also expressed for the 18-year-old. With 156 points already banked, Antonelli's transition from a difficult debut year to title contention has become one of the season's defining storylines.
Long-standing belief in Antonelli's talent
Leclerc revealed he has followed Antonelli's career closely since the junior categories. "I've always rated Kimi extremely highly, especially from what I saw of him in the junior classes," the Monegasque said. "That first year was obviously challenging. But to make such an enormous step from the first to the second year, I don't think anyone expected that. I think he surprised a lot of people." Antonelli made his Formula 2 debut only in 2024 before jumping straight into Formula 1 with Mercedes in 2025, a compressed timeline that left many questioning whether he was ready for the top tier.
Leclerc was unequivocal in his early assessment. "I always said Kimi was very special and that he would be very successful. But to see the step he has made from his first to his second year is particularly impressive." The Ferrari driver's endorsement carries weight given his own track record of identifying talent and his experience navigating a similarly pressured trajectory into a top team.
Parallels with Leclerc's Ferrari promotion
Antonelli's arrival at Mercedes draws direct comparisons to Leclerc's own career path. The Ferrari driver debuted with Sauber in 2018 but was promoted to the Scuderia just one season later, where he was immediately paired with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. "I was racing alongside Seb, a multiple world champion. For me, that was an incredible situation. I was living my dream by driving for Ferrari and at the same time racing alongside a driver I had looked up to my entire career," Leclerc recalled.
That dynamic, he argued, provided a psychological buffer that Antonelli is likely experiencing now. "If I finished behind Seb, then I was behind someone who was older, had more experience and was incredibly fast. And if I finished ahead of him, that was incredible for me. I really enjoyed it and I see that Kimi is enjoying it too. I don't think he feels much pressure being in this position." Leclerc's 2019 campaign yielded two wins and seven podiums against Vettel, a benchmark that validated his promotion and eventually tilted Ferrari's hierarchy in his favour.
A rookie season rewriting expectations
Antonelli's five victories from seven starts represent a statistical anomaly in the modern era, particularly for a driver entering only his second full season of single-seater racing at the highest level. Leclerc's admiration is shared across the paddock, with Verstappen having previously singled out the Italian as a generational talent. Whether Antonelli can sustain this form across a full championship cycle remains the central question, but Leclerc's comments suggest the Ferrari driver believes the Mercedes rookie has the temperament and raw speed to remain a fixture at the front. For now, the pressure appears to be on Antonelli's rivals rather than the teenager himself
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